Fixing His Mistakes
by Moana Fan Girl
Summary: When Maui flies back from Tamatoa's lair after making up with him, he suddenly remembers he still has to make up for his mistakes by helping the mortals since he believes they may not have much respect for him after his theft of the Heart. Not sure if this can be K so it's K plus for now.


**Like my story _Apologies_, this takes place some time after the movie.**

* * *

After helping Moana and her tribe find a new island to call home and apologizing to his former friend-turned-rival Tamatoa, Maui was on his way back to the island where Moana and her family stayed. As he looked back at the fading view of Lalotai, he faced forward again and felt proud he had made things right again with the giant crab.

But he felt as if something else was missing, but he couldn't quite think of what it was. As he tried to remember what it was, thinking about his and Moana's journey to restore the Heart of Te Fiti, he suddenly remembered what it was after a few seconds: the humans!

He had let them down by stealing the Heart, unknowingly causing more problems for humanity than he had intended. He thought it'd give them the power of creation, but all it did was summon the fiery beast known as Te Kā, causing him to think the Heart was cursed.

He shuddered at the memory before suddenly realizing he was about to hit a tree! He was about to turn but he was already so close to the tree that he had slammed into it, letting out a grunt of pain before falling to the ground, dropping his hook and changing to his human form in the process.

After he had hit the ground, he opened his eyes before seeing his hook falling towards him.

_No no no no no..._ He thought, his eyes wide-open, thinking that his hook was going to hit him like it did after he fell from the sky when he tried to catch a fish. Fortunately for him it didn't, and landed on the grass beside him, causing him to let out a sigh of relief.

He then heard the sound of a girl giggling and instantly recognized who it belonged to. _Moana..._

He groaned as he sat up, holding a hand to his forehead due to the impact he had with the tree. Though being an immortal it barely even hurt him, while for humans it would've felt like being hit by a brick made out of wood.

"Are you okay?" Moana asked him as she rushed over to him to help him up, "I saw you slam into that tree."

As she helped Maui up he said in a sarcastic tone, "Yes, and I heard you giggling as I did."

"D-Did I giggle?" She asked, trying to act casual, her hands behind her back, "I mean, uh...I wouldn't be giggling at you slamming into a tree."

Maui just rolled his eyes. "Look kid, I came here to check on you and your family to see how you guys were doing."

"Where were you, by the way?" Moana asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

"I...went to Tamatoa's lair to apologize." Maui replied as he looked down, "I mean, I helped restore the Heart of Te Fiti and made things right again by doing that" – he looked back up at her – "so I...decided to make things right with Tamatoa, too."

"But wasn't he after the Heart too?" Moana asked him, "Because when I showed him the fake Heart he immediately rushed for it."

"I dunno." Maui replied with a shrug, "Maybe he's changed... But I doubt it since the Heart is, as he calls it, 'shiny'." He then sighed. "But look, just checking on you is not what I'm here for. I actually came to both check on you...and make it up to the humans I've let down."

"Like who?" Moana asked as she picked up Pua, who had walked up to her and nudged her leg, "I mean, those people are literally gone now."

"Well, I'm sure no one was allowed to fish or anything after I...stole the Heart." Maui explained, guilt showing in his voice as he looked down again, "Actually, I'm sure no one was able to do _anything_ beyond the reef since I stole the Heart!"

"Just like the legends..." Moana said, remembering what her grandma had told her shortly before her death, "You stole the Heart of Te Fiti and since then no one was allowed to sail beyond the reef." After she had finished, she saw him looking up at her again, regret showing all over his face.

"Yes." He admitted sadly, once again looking down as he fought back tears and tried to stay strong, "I-I'm sorry..." As much as he tried to keep himself from sounding like he was about to cry, he couldn't help it and ended up sounding that way, but he still refused to cry in front of her.

"Maui," Moana said, sitting down next to him and gently putting a hand on his shoulder, "I understand... You wanted to give the power of creation to us so you could be loved. You wanted what you did to be enough. But it was enough, and if some of them didn't think so, well...they were greedy, like some people can be."

"Thanks Moana." Maui said, giving her a warm smile, "I guess you're right." He then stood up as she took her hand from his shoulder before adding, "But I still want to make the people happy and continue to help them, since my stories are told on other islands too, and even today people may be disappointed in me despite that being over one-thousand years ago."

Moana smiled and rolled her eyes. "They won't be disappointed since they know you restored the Heart of Te Fiti." She then realized what she had said and decided to fix her mistake by adding, "With my help, of course." She then smiled sheepishly.

"I know, but that was _one_ thing that made up for my crimes." He said with a smile, "I want to do more to show the humans that I can still be relied on. I mean, I'm sure there were tons of people who couldn't pray to me because of my actions before I was stuck on that island, but now I'm free and I can answer their prayers!"

"But they're dead!" Moana said, trying to correct him, "So how could you-"

"Look, Princess, I _know_ they're dead." Maui said sternly, "But still, they have ancestors now and I'm not willing to let them down." He looked down sadly. "Not like I did their ancestors from the past generations..." He muttered quietly, almost inaudible to where Moana couldn't hear. But she did.

"You couldn't really answer prayers on that island, could you?" She asked softly.

Annoyed by the stupid question she had just asked, Maui turned to her with an angry look on his face and, as calmly as he could, said, "Do you think I could answer prayers while out in the middle of nowhere and cursed to live on a filthy pile of pebbles? Also, like I mentioned earlier, they _couldn't__ pray to me_ after I stole Te Fiti's Heart!"

Moana frowned at how the demigod was speaking to her, but she knew he often talked like this when annoyed. "I can help you." She offered, cracking a small smile and hoping for Maui to approve, "I mean, if you want or need me to." Maui sighed.

"I'm afraid you can't..." He said, looking down but keeping his eyes focused on her. He really didn't want to say this nor did he not want her to go, but he had to.

Not understanding why and a bit annoyed by Maui's answer, she asked, "Why not? I helped you restore the Heart of Te Fiti." She gently placed Pua down before crossing her arms and tapping her foot, a not-too-happy look on her face as if he had just said she couldn't accomplish anything.

"Because," Maui began, "sure you helped me restore the Heart of Te Fiti but I gotta do this alone. You know, fix my own stupid mistakes... If I don't, the humans are just gonna think I can't do things on my own! Besides, you have a village to take care of, and _my_ work is more complicated than you think." He then remembered the question he'd asked her while on their way to restore the Heart and added, "Have you ever pulled up an entire island?"

"No." Moana replied before smiling, "But I can try!"

"Kid, I'm afraid only those with _special powers_ can pull up entire islands." Maui stated, holding his fish hook over his shoulder.

Looking at his fishhook she got an idea. "We can ask the gods to grant me special powers!" She said with a huge grin covering her face.

"Look, I'm not trying to be mean, but _you_ have a village to look after, and _I_ have islands full of people to look after." Maui said matter-of-factly, "And I do hate telling you no when you want to do something with me to help me, but...I just have to do most of my demigod duties on my own. But I will come back for you once I'm done and continue to help you and your family find new islands and stuff, okay? I promise."

Moana really didn't want to leave him on his own to do his work, but she understood he had no choice. He was right: she did have a village to look after. She had no idea why she really wanted to go with him on his adventure, but it was probably because they had spent so much time together on their way to Te Fiti that she was used to travelling with him on his adventures by now.

But with the knowledge that he was right, she smiled brightly and ran to him to give him a hug before saying, "Go be the demigod you were meant to be." Maui smiled at this and hugged back.

"I will." He said assuringly, giving her a pat on the back before separating the hug.

The sun was beginning to set, meaning it was the evening, and he turned around to walk off towards the sandy beach before taking one last look at his best friend. She smiled at him and he returned it before facing forward again and changing to his giant hawk form.

* * *

Thirty minutes had gone by, and Maui was still looking for islands that may need his assistance. He wondered if he'd see anything or if he should just pull up a new island from the sea.

As he was about to decide to pull up a new island, he spotted an island that looked like it had no fruit trees nor coconut trees, and the people there seemed to be eating only fish they had caught, though the children looked tired of eating the same thing every day so Maui smiled as he swooped down onto a tree branch.

As he landed, he noticed other animals that could be used for food and was curious as to why they didn't feed off them, guessing it must be some weird custom the villagers had.

He quickly changed to human form and jumped from the branch he was on. He then landed on both feet as he touched the ground.

_Now it's time to sprout some trees!_ He thought with a grin, heading to some empty spots which had just enough room for a tree or two, or maybe even more, _First off, coconuts for water. Then maybe some fruit like bananas._ He grinned excitedly as he thought of becoming the reliable hero the village needs and the hero he used to be.

As he planted the seeds to the trees he was going to grow, he started to hum the song he sang to Moana when he'd first met her. Upon doing so, he slowed his humming to a stop upon remembering her saying he wasn't her hero. But he then shrugged it off, knowing he was now _everyone's _hero. And he loved it!

As he continued to hum his song, he used his powers to make the trees sprout and grow faster. He smiled at his feat, looking at his palm tree tattoo and grinning.

_It's good to be back._ He thought as he looked up at his work.

He then suddenly changed back to his hawk form, flew up into the air and scanned for any empty spots where he could grow more trees, seeing the villagers leaving possibly to visit other islands.

Suddenly he saw what looked to be an empty spot so he flew over it. He noticed it had trees surrounding it in a circle, but he decided he could leave that spot empty and just clear some of the other trees to make room for more fruit trees.

He swooped down and, changing to his human form, swung his hook at the bottom of the tree so he could cause the tree to fall into the clearing without leaving a stump behind. Well that's how it would have happened if he hadn't been so quick swooping down. Instead of swinging his arm back and then towards the tree to knock it down, he swung his arm back and before he knew it, he was already very close to the ground, his eyes suddenly widening before he faceplanted into it.

_Well this is embarrassing..._ He thought as he used his hands to push himself up from the ground, spitting out some grass in the process, _I'm glad nobody saw that._

Just as he had thought that, he heard a bit of chirping from above him as he stood up before looking above him in the trees, seeing a bird there seemingly tilting its head in curiosity.

"Oh come on!" He shouted, the bird suddenly flying away due to being scared by his sudden outburst.

After the bird flew away, Maui let out an annoyed huff before beginning to swing his fish hook at the tree. Once he got the perfect angle, he swung at the bottom of the tree, causing it to slowly tip over in the clearing as Maui quickly got out of the way. Halfway down, the tree fell.

He continued the process with a few more trees before planting the seeds and using his powers once again to cause the trees to grow quickly.

* * *

After he finished planting and growing trees all over the island, having put his hair up in a bun halfway through so he could be cooler when the island breezes came by since the weather was warm, he flew up high into the air and admired his work. He then quickly flew to where he saw the villagers eating earlier and his smile got brighter upon seeing them gathering the fruits from the trees.

One thing he wasn't expecting though was the villagers talking about him and how great he was, assuming they had just been to either Moana's island or to another island where the villagers worshipped him. Though whatever it was, it didn't matter: he had saved a village.

He smiled to himself before flying away from the island, the breeze feeling good in his feathers.

_Next stop: pulling up islands._ He thought, smirling to himself.

* * *

**Okay this was supposed to be a one-shot, so...that's why I'm cutting it off here. I hope you guys enjoyed, anyway! I was going to add him pulling up maybe an island or two, but I didn't know how the story flow or whatever would look after I added him heading off to pull up some islands.**

**But I might make a second chapter to this of him doing so, since he did mention earlier in the story something about him doing his demigod work. So stay tuned, just in case! I'm currently thinking of adding a second chapter to this, so it will most likely happen.**


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